1949 New Zealand general election
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All 80 seats in the New Zealand Parliament 41 seats were needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 1,113,852 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results of the election. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1949 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 29th term. It saw the governing Labour Party defeated by the opposition National Party. This marked the end of the First Labour government and the beginning of the First National government.
Background[]
The Labour Party had formed its first ministry after winning the 1935 election, and had remained in power (with gradually decreasing majorities) since then. The National Party, formed by a merger of the parties which Labour had originally ousted, gradually increased its power in Parliament; the ineffectual Adam Hamilton was replaced by Sidney Holland, and internal disputes were gradually resolved. The Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, was increasingly weary. Ongoing shortages after World War II also eroded public support for the government. The National Party's decision not to repeal Labour's social welfare policies also increased its appeal.
MPs retiring in 1949[]
Two Labour MPs and one National MP intended to retire at the end of the Parliament.
Party | Name | Electorate | |
---|---|---|---|
Labour | David Coleman | Gisborne | |
Charles Petrie | Otahuhu | ||
National | Garnet Mackley | Wairarapa |
The election[]
The date for the main elections was a Wednesday 30 November. Elections to the four Māori electorates were held the day before—the 1949 elections were the last in which Māori voted on a different day. 1,113,852 people were registered to vote, although rolls for the Māori electorates were "woefully inadequate." Voter turnout for the elections is disputed, given the problems with the Māori roll—some sources place it at 93.5 percent, while others estimate 92.9 percent. Regardless, the turnout was relatively high for the time. The number of seats being contested was 80, a number which had been fixed since 1902.
Election results[]
Party standings[]
The 1949 election saw the governing Labour Party defeated by a twelve-seat margin. It has previously held a four-seat majority. Labour won a total of 34 seats, as opposed to National's 46. The popular vote was considerably closer—Labour won 47.2 percent to National's 51.9 percent. No seats were won by minor party candidates or by independents.
John A. Lee stood for Grey Lynn as the sole Democratic Labour candidate and got 2,627 votes, coming third.
Election results | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidates | Total votes | Percentage | Seats won | change | |
National | 80 | 556,805 | 51.88 | 46 | +8 | |
Labour | 80 | 506,073 | 47.16 | 34 | −8 | |
Communist | 16 | 3,499 | 0.33 | 0 | ±0 | |
Democratic Labour | 1 | 2,627 | 0.24 | 0 | ±0 | |
Others | 19 | 4,150 | 0.39 | 0 | ±0 | |
Total | 196 | 1,073,154 | 80 |
Votes summary[]
Initial MPs[]
The table below shows the results of the 1949 general election:
Key
Labour National
Electorate | Incumbent | Winner | Majority | Runner up | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
General electorates | |||||||
Arch Hill | Bill Parry | 5,174 | Gordon Frederick Smith | ||||
Ashburton | Geoff Gerard | 2,385 | William Erle Rose | ||||
Auckland Central | Bill Anderton | 2,799 | Leonard Bradley | ||||
Avon | John Mathison | 4,593 | George Nelson Kinzett | ||||
Awarua | George Richard Herron | 3,179 | Neville Pickering[2] | ||||
Bay of Plenty | Bill Sullivan | 3,680 | Thomas Godfrey Santon | ||||
Brooklyn | Peter Fraser[3] | 2,956 | Berta Burns[4] | ||||
Buller | Jerry Skinner | 2,206 | Phil McDonald | ||||
Central Otago | William Bodkin | 3,906 | Thomas Augustus Rodgers | ||||
Christchurch Central | Robert Macfarlane | 3,637 | Kevin Marlow | ||||
Clutha | James Roy | 3,231 | John Edward Keenan | ||||
Dunedin Central | Phil Connolly | 989 | David Murdoch | ||||
Dunedin North | Robert Walls | 668 | Richard Brickell | ||||
Eden | Wilfred Fortune | 2,259 | Pat Curran | ||||
Egmont | Ernest Corbett | 4,539 | Brian Edgar Richmond | ||||
Fendalton | Sidney Holland | 4,076 | Robert Newman | ||||
Franklin | Jack Massey | 5,481 | John Parsons | ||||
Gisborne | David Coleman | Reginald Keeling | 489 | Harry Dudfield[5][6] | |||
Grey Lynn | Fred Hackett | 4,203 | John Leon Faulkner[7] | ||||
Hamilton | Hilda Ross | 1,605 | John Granville | ||||
Hastings | Ted Cullen | Sydney Jones | 982 | Ted Cullen | |||
Hauraki | Andrew Sutherland | 3,944 | Percival Peacock | ||||
Hawke's Bay | Cyril Harker | 3,442 | Dick Beattie | ||||
Hobson | Sidney Walter Smith | 5,068 | William Edmund Lane | ||||
Hurunui | William Gillespie | 2,535 | Arthur J. Smith | ||||
Hutt | Walter Nash | 2,273 | Horace Leonard Heatley | ||||
Invercargill | Ralph Hanan | 1,159 | William Denham | ||||
Island Bay | Robert McKeen | 2,770 | Herbert Edward Childs | ||||
Karori | Charles Bowden | 3,585 | Ethel Harris | ||||
Lyttelton | Terry McCombs | 978 | Richard Ralph Beauchamp | ||||
Manawatu | Matthew Oram | 3,433 | Basil A. Rodgers | ||||
Marlborough | Tom Shand | 1,862 | James Harrison Wilson | ||||
Marsden | Alfred Murdoch | 3,276 | Douglas L. Ross | ||||
Miramar | Bob Semple | 1,315 | Cuthbert Taylor | ||||
Mornington | Wally Hudson | 4,185 | Geoffrey Stephens | ||||
Mount Albert | Warren Freer | 931 | Reg Judson | ||||
Mount Victoria | Jack Marshall | 1,808 | Nathan Seddon | ||||
Napier | Tommy Armstrong | 721 | William Tucker | ||||
Nelson | Edgar Neale | 1,373 | Reynell Marshall | ||||
New Plymouth | Ernest Aderman | 1,517 | Clarence Robert Parker | ||||
North Shore | Martyn Finlay | Dean Eyre | 1,344 | Martyn Finlay | |||
Oamaru | Arnold Nordmeyer | Thomas Hayman | 694 | Arnold Nordmeyer | |||
Onehunga | Arthur Osborne | 2,300 | Alan A. Coates | ||||
Onslow | Harry Combs | 1,927 | John S. Meadowcroft[8] | ||||
Otahuhu | Charles Petrie | Leon Götz | 1,275 | Alex Dixon | |||
Otaki | Jimmy Maher | 374 | Denzil Capstick | ||||
Pahiatua | Keith Holyoake | 4,507 | G P O'Leary | ||||
Palmerston North | Ormond Wilson | Blair Tennent | 518 | Ormond Wilson | |||
Parnell | Duncan Rae | 960 | Bill Schramm | ||||
Patea | William Sheat | 1,841 | Frederick William Finer | ||||
Petone | Mick Moohan | 2,527 | Norm Croft | ||||
Piako | Stan Goosman | 6,266 | Gilbert Parsons Kenah | ||||
Ponsonby | Ritchie Macdonald | 2,278 | Brian Kingston | ||||
Raglan | Alan Baxter | Hallyburton Johnstone | 1,022 | Alan Baxter | |||
Rangitikei | Edward Gordon | 3,310 | E R De Malmanche | ||||
Remuera | Ronald Algie | 5,079 | Hugh Watt[9][1] | ||||
Riccarton | Angus McLagan | 2,707 | Harry Lake[10] | ||||
Rodney | Clifton Webb | 4,546 | Arthur Leaming | ||||
Roskill | Frank Langstone | John Rae | 1,415 | James Freeman | |||
St Albans | Jack Watts | 1,142 | George Manning[11] | ||||
St Kilda | Fred Jones | 331 | Gerald Lyon | ||||
Selwyn | John McAlpine | 1,327 | Alan Sharp | ||||
Sydenham | Mabel Howard | 5,643 | Oliver G. Moody[8] | ||||
Tamaki | Tom Skinner | Eric Halstead | 1,095 | Tom Skinner | |||
Tauranga | Frederick Doidge | 4,595 | Hillary Joseph Pickett | ||||
Timaru | Clyde Carr | 832 | Jack Lockington | ||||
Waikato | Geoffrey Sim | 5,923 | John Ronald Burfitt | ||||
Waimarino | Paddy Kearins | 202 | Arthur Herbert MacPherson | ||||
Waimate | David Campbell Kidd | 1,767 | Roy Davison | ||||
Wairarapa | Garnet Mackley | Bert Cooksley | 963 | George Anders Hansen | |||
Waitakere | Rex Mason | 930 | Robert Tapper | ||||
Waitomo | Walter Broadfoot | 5,079 | Frank Kitts | ||||
Wallace | Tom Macdonald | 4,511 | Herman Victor Freeman | ||||
Wanganui | Joe Cotterill | 1,019 | Ernest Victor O'Keefe | ||||
Wellington Central | Charles Chapman | 575 | Will Appleton | ||||
Westland | Jim Kent | 2,744 | Patrick Joseph O'Regan | ||||
Māori electorates | |||||||
Eastern Maori | Tiaki Omana | 3,211 | Turi Carroll | ||||
Northern Maori | Tapihana Paraire Paikea | 2,029 | James Henare | ||||
Southern Maori | Eruera Tirikatene | 687 | Huro Nathanial Bates | ||||
Western Maori | vacant[nb 1] | Iriaka Rātana | 6,317 | Hoeroa Marumaru |
Table footnotes:
- ^ Matiu Ratana, the previous holder of the Western Maori electorate, died on 7 October 1949. His wife Iriaka Rātana stood for election instead.
Notes[]
- ^ a b "The General Election, 1949". National Library. 1950. pp. 1–5, 8. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
- ^ Norton 1988, p. 197.
- ^ Wilson 1985, p. 198.
- ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 357.
- ^ Norton 1988, p. 228.
- ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 308.
- ^ Norton 1988, p. 419.
- ^ a b Gustafson 1986, p. 378.
- ^ Norton 1988, p. 331.
- ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 325.
- ^ Sharfe, Jean. "Manning, George". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
References[]
- Fraser, S. E. (1967). The 1949 General Election (MA thesis). Dunedin: University of Otago.
- Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.
- McLennan, R. (1963). The Last Years of the First Labour Government 1945–1949 (MA thesis). Auckland: University of Auckland.
- Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
- Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
- 1949 New Zealand general election